1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food preparation devices and more particularly to a centrifugal dryer for rinsed salad greens, e.g. leafy comestibles, and other foods.
2. Antecedents of the Invention
The careful preparation of tasty salads involved not only cleansing salad greens, e.g. leafy comestibles, such as lettuce, cabbage, spinach, sprouts and the like, by water rinsing but, significantly, removal of residue rinse water, such that the salad were crisp and flavorful.
Several damp dry salad spinners have been proposed, such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,090 to LILLELUND, U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,109 to BULL, U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,025 to BULL et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,916 to DOYEL, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,321 to FOUINETEAU and U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,297 to MANTLET.
Most of these prior devices were designed for household usage and included a basket for carrying the salad greens and an outer bucket, within which the basket was rotated by a lightweight gear drive.
None of these salad spinners were suited for the rigors of commercial usage such as encountered in a catering establishment or restaurant, not only due to their limited volumetric capacity but, additionally, the entire structures thereof were relatively lightweight and could not endure the stresses encountered in commercial usage.
For example, salad spinners in commercial usage developed substantial momentum and when a gear device crank arm was utilized to slow or stop the basket from spinning, the gear drive and bearing surfaces suffered the consequences of undue stress.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,209 to KOFF disclosed a commercial centrifuge for drying salad greens which included a spinner basket carried within a hollow body and an electric motor mounted to a cover. A drive shaft extended from the motor or a gear drive and engaged a lid which was secured over the top of the spinner basket.
The commercial unit disclosed in the KOFF Patent was relatively bulky, required electric power and required removal of both the cover to which the motor was mounted and the spinner basket lid for the purpose of accessing the interior of the basket. Additionally, cleaning of the multiple parts was cumbersome.
A centrifugal damp dryer for rinsed foods includes a cylindrical cabinet having a cover assembly and a fenestrated food basket journalled for rotation within the cabinet about an axis concentric with the cabinet and the cover assembly.
The cover assembly carries a gear train having a crank arm input shaft and an output shaft. The axes of the input and output shafts are concentric with the axes of the cabinet and the fenestrated basket. The output shaft includes a noncircular tip which is engaged in a mating aperture formed in a central tower of the basket.
A hand brake mechanism, mounted to the cover assembly, includes a brake pad which selectively engages the basket to halt rotation without stressing the gear train.
From the foregoing compendium, it will be appreciated that it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is not subject to the disadvantages of the antecedents of the invention aforementioned.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is easy to use by relatively unskilled kitchen personnel.
A consideration of the present invention is to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is configured for economical mass production fabrication.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is particularly well adapted for commercial usage in restaurants and catering establishments.
To provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is fabricated with relatively few separable parts is a further feature of the present invention.
Another consideration of the present invention is to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which may be easily cleaned.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is readily transportable.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described which is well suited for batch operation of relatively short cycle duration.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide a hand operated centrifugal dryer for rinsed foods of the general character described wherein a rotating basket is engaged by a brake mechanism.
Other aspects, features and considerations of the present invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.
With these ends in view, the invention finds embodiment in the various arrangements of parts, combinations of elements and series of steps by which the aforesaid aspects, features and considerations and certain other aspects, features and considerations are attained, all with reference to the accompanying drawings and the scope of which will be more particularly pointed out and indicated in the appended claims.